Homemade seitan (“wheat meat”) is wrapped around a savory stuffing in this elegant vegan main dish.
This is A Tale of Two Seitans.
For Thanksgiving this year, I decided to make something a little fancier than the baked tofu my husband, daughter, and I usually enjoy while our omnivorous extended family is eating turkey. The day before the big feast, I took one of my old favorite stuffings, wrapped wheat gluten around it, sealed it in foil, and baked it like “Veggeroni.”
Right out of the oven, the savory flavor of the stuffed seitan was divine. Though the texture was verging on dry, I had to chase away family members circling like ravenous wolves so that I could wrap it up for the trip to my parents’ house.
The next day, I reheated the foil-wrapped seitan in the oven alongside my green bean casserole and my mother’s cornbread dressing. And that’s where I made my mistake. I should have steamed it or microwaved it because it came out of the oven much drier than before. Doused with mushroom gravy, it was still good, but it could have been better.
Seitan Roulade First Attempt
I posted a photo of the first seitan roulade on my Facebook page and planned to share the recipe when I got back from my Thanksgiving trip. But because I wasn’t completely satisfied with how the stuffed seitan “performed” for the big meal, I decided to see if I could come up with a moister, more tender seitan that would hold up to reheating.
That’s how this second seitan roulade came to be.
In this version, I “oven-steamed” the seitan first in a little broth before uncovering and baking it. Success! The stuffed seitan was so tender that we didn’t need any gravy.
The only downside is that because it wasn’t confined by foil, the roast expanded as it cooked and lost its “rolled” design. It’s also less sturdy than the foil-baked version, so if we were planning to travel with it, we’d need to pack it much more carefully.
Overall, I prefer the final version, but if you want the roulade look, follow the variation in the recipe below. Whichever way you make it, just be careful how you reheat it. Or better yet, eat it while it’s still piping hot out of the oven.
“Savory.” That’s the best word to describe this meat-free roast, redolent with the flavors of thyme and sage and enlivened with the sweet-sour tang of dried cranberries. You won’t have any leftovers!
Seitan Stuffed with Walnuts, Dried Cranberries, and Mushrooms
Ingredients
Stuffing
- 1/2 large onion chopped
- 1 rib celery chopped
- 4 ounces mushrooms sliced or chopped
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon rubbed sage
- generous grinding of pepper
- 3 ounces whole wheat bread (about 2 slices), cut into small cubes
- 1/3 cup dried cranberries or cherries
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts or sunflower seeds, for nut-free
- 1 teaspoon whole chia seeds or ground flax seed
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
- 1/2 cup water (more as needed)
Seitan
- 2 cups vital wheat gluten (10 ounces)
- 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon rubbed sage
- 1 teaspoon marjoram
- 1/3 cup quinoa flakes or quick oatmeal
- 1 teaspoon chia seed or ground flaxseeds
- 1 1/2 cup vegetable broth
- 1 cup great northern beans cooked
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce or coconut aminos
- 1 clove garlic peeled
- 1 tablespoon tahini (preferred) or nut butter
Baking Broth
- 1/2 cup vegetable broth
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce or coconut aminos
- 1/2 teaspoon dark sesame oil (optional)
Assembly
- 4 sprigs fresh rosemary
Suggested Tools
Instructions
Make the stuffing:
- Sauté the onion and celery in a non-stick skillet until onion is becoming translucent. Add the mushrooms, thyme, sage, and a generous grating of black pepper and cover. Cook until mushrooms exude their juices, about 3 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients along with enough water to moisten the stuffing but not make it soaking wet. Remove from heat and keep covered.
Make the seitan:
- In a mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients (vital wheat gluten through chia seeds). Place the 1 1/2 cups of broth, white beans, soy sauce, and garlic in blender and process until liquefied. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients, add the bean mixture, and stir until gluten is completely moistened. Drizzle the tahini over the top and knead it into the dough. Keep kneading until dough holds together in a ball. Set aside while you make the broth.
Make the broth:
- Heat all ingredients until hot but not boiling. A microwave works well for this.
Assemble:
- Preheat oven to 400. Lightly oil an oval or rectangular baking dish, 11-13 inches long and 6-8 inches wide. (Your seitan will expand to fit it, so try not to use a very wide dish.)
- Line your work surface with plastic wrap, parchment paper, or waxed paper. Place the dough in the center, cover it with plastic wrap, and roll out the seitan, making sure that it is the same thickness in all places, until it's about 9x13 (an inch or so either way doesn't matter, but make sure it's not longer than your pan). Spread the stuffing evenly, leaving a 1-inch margin on all sides.
- Lift up the plastic wrap on one of the long edges and roll the seitan up like a jelly roll. (Alternatively, arrange the stuffing in a horizontal line across the middle of the seitan and bring one long edge up and over it to the other side.) Pinch the ends sealed first and then pinch well to seal the long seam. Take care to make sure that the edges are completely sealed and no gaps or stuffing shows.
- Lift the seitan roll carefully and place seam-side down in the prepared casserole dish. Pour the baking broth over it, add rosemary, and cover tightly. If the dish doesn't have a cover, use aluminum foil to cover tightly. (Did I mention "tightly?" Tightly! I enclosed even the bottom of the dish in foil.)
- Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven, baste with broth, recover tightly, and bake for another 25 minutes. Baste again and return to oven uncovered for about 30 minutes. Baste 2 or 3 times as it's cooking. Seitan is done when top seems firm and brown and the broth has evaporated. You can test it by cutting a small slit in the middle; if it is doughy rather than firm, return to the oven.
- Remove from the oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes. Transfer carefully to a cutting board or serving platter and cut into 1/2-inch slices.
Notes
Nutritional info is approximate.
Please pin and share:
Kim Louis-jean
I would love a copy of your book!! I plan on making stuffed squash and maybe your pumpkin cookies and pumpkin tiramasu for Christmas 🙂
Jen in Co
I have been positively lusting after Nava’s (and your) new cookbook and would love to have a chance to win!
We celebrate Christmas and the timing of this recipe is great since I hadn’t figured out my main dish yet. I know we will be having your green bean casserole recipe because my family loves it, a sweet potato casserole, a kale salad, pumpkin tiramisu (from the NYT Thanksgiving wellness blog – another big hit here – and lots and lots of cookies.
Thanks for all the inspiration, Susan!
Amanda
I’d like to be entered to win Vegan Holiday Kitchen, please. 🙂
Whatever I make….hopefully it’s a little healthier than my Thanksgiving fare. Some hearty veggie/bean soup with homemade bread, salad, and I’ve got my eye on a few dozen dessert recipes right now. Haha
Moira
The book looks fantastic. I’m all about the stuffing and mashed potatoes during the holidays. I could eat both into eternity!
Sonya
Don’t know what’s for holiday dinner. Hubs has to work and I am going to be with my family.
Nani
This is the second time in a week that ive heard seitan being mentioned, ive been a veggie for 3 yrs or so and trying (really hard) to become vegan but half the time i settle for veggie since my options near me are very limited, your seitan looks totally delicious, now i want to try it!!
Im from mexico , our culture looooooooves meat for the holidays, grilled, broiled, baked..you name it! I end up eating sides since im the only veggie in the family, i wish i could make something tasty that they didnt turn their nose to so i dont feel bad cooking just for one 🙁
LouAnn
Oh my gosh – I would be honored to have a chance to win a signed copy of this book! We enjoyed our Thanksgiving Menu so much, we’re thinking about repeating it when we celebrate Christmas! (Well, a whittled down version – that was just too much food!) We’ll choose from Basmati Rice w/ Cranberry Stuffing, Sauteed Green Beans w/ Clementine Dressing, Baked Sweet Potato Fries, Garlic Mashed Potatoes w/ Sage Gravy, Grandma’s Cornbread Dressing, Mashed Sweet Potatoes, Apple Cranberry Crisp, Pumpkin Rolls and Impossible Vegan Pumpkin Pie 🙂 We found out everyone can pitch in and make certain items, that way we all get a break while the others are making their dishes – and it’s so neat to to see what everyones talents are in the kitchen.
December is such a festive time of year – there are so many Holidays for Everyone to Celebrate! We’re All So Blessed 🙂
greens
Hi Susan~
We celebrate the usualy Thanksgiving and Christmas. Deffinately having brussels sprouts at Christmas. I’ve already purchased 2 copies of the book as Christmas gifts. I really like how it is organized by holiday. Your photos are fabulous (wish there were more). Would love to have a signed copy!
Have a very merry Christmas 😉
Beth M.
I would LOVE this book, one because I’m a cookbook collector and two, because I love to cook! This would be great to have for the holidays since it is the toughest time of teh year for me considering im the only vegan in the family. This would give me great ideas that I can use to please both the non-veg family as well as myself 🙂 We celebrate Christmas and this year we’re actually going to Disney! Thankfully they have revamped their menus and now offer tons of vegan options! i’m looking forward to enjoying a buffet of yummy ethnic foods such as hummus, olives and pilaf; along with chef made desserts and a yummy peanut butter and jelly shake!
April Mast
I would LOVE the chance to cook from this book! I haven’t assembled my holiday menu yet (I’m not doing dinner this year, just making something to bring to my in-law’s house for my daughter and I to eat) but I need a few ideas! I used a few of your recipes last year for dinner, it was a hit!
April’s 2010 Mast Family Christmas Dinner Menu
Appetizers:
Butternut Squash Citrus Dip
Pumpkin Cashew Cheese w/ Apples
Spinach Dip with Veggies & Garlic Crostini
Main Course:
Marinated Portobellos w/ Cauliflower Cashew Mash
Coco-Almond Quinoa Risotto w/ Spicy Saffron Mushroom Coconut Gravy
36-Clove Garlic Rosemary Cauliflower
Herb Roasted Sweet Potatoes
Cranberry Maple Carrots
Farmer’s Market Kale Salad w/ Pine Nuts & Dried Cranberries
Ambrosia Salad
Grandma’s Rolls
Dessert:
Crockpot Peach Dump w/ Vanilla Ice Cream
Indian Fig Bread Pudding w/ Hard Sauce
Kim
I don’t celebrate any winter holidays, but I absolutely love hearty winter foods and would love a chance to win a copy of the cookbook! Thanks for having such a great giveaway!
Cherie
This was fantastic 🙂 the whole family liked it. Next time I think I will try making the stuffing with wild rice instead of bread cubes though. I fed some of this to a carnivorous friend of mine and she liked it as well. Thanks for sharing this recipe.
Cherie
I would like to win your book 🙂 For Christmas dinner we always have Lasagna, salad, garlic bread, for dessert I will make an apple and possibly peach pies. We dont go too overboard for Christmas dinner because we go all out for Thanksgiving, for which we had dinner roast, mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potato souffle, green bean casserole, cranberry relish, gravy, dinner rolls, with cherry cheesecake and double decker pumpkin pie for dessert
Linda W.
New to vegan eating – love your website. I’m going to try this recipe, not a very experiened cook so thanks for the pictures – need all the help I can get. Would love to win a copy of the cookbook. I’m trying to convert my husband to a plant based diet for health reasons and I think the recipes you post will really help. Thanks for sharing.
Cheryl
Thanks for the recipe and tips. I may just be brave and try it for Christmas. Of course I would love to win a copy of Vegan Holiday Kitchen. I have several of Nava’s books, so I know it will be good. Plus, your yummy photos are sure to make it even better.
Gourmandelle
I’m drooling all over my keyboard :)) I must make this for Christmas! Thank you Susan for this wonderful recipe.
kreg sterns
We celebrate Christmas and this looks really good though most people I’ve met don’t like seitan for some reason. I like it! Thanks for all of your delicious recipes!
lisa
I’d love a book chance. We look at every single day as a celebration! but specifically in winter, the usual, thanksgiving, xmas, new years. Similarly, my family consists of 2 adults and an adolescent, and we have to bring our entire meal with us to every family gathering (thanksgiving i brought my own homemade tofurky, cran sauce, gravy, even sweet potatoes!) so that we can continue to eat vegan and organic. I think for Christmas I will either make this roulade or a roasted vegetable soup and homemade flax crackers.
Kimberly C
Hi Susan,
I’d love to win a copy of your book! I’m a big fan of your site and Nava’s Vegetarian Family Cookbook. I’m the only non-meat-eater in my family so I usually fill up on delicious veggie sides. This year I’d like to bring something to the table for everyone to share instead of being the odd man out. I’m not sure what that dish is yet, but I’m sure I would find something scrumptious in Vegan Holiday Kitchen!
Happy Holidays!
Suzanne
This looks heavenly and I can’t wait to make it! I have the new cookbook and it not only looks delicious, bthe photos are gorgeous! Well done! I also love how the Engine 2 diet folks repost a lot of your recipes (this one included) on facebook! yay!!!
Brittany Freese
I’d like a chance to win a copy of the cookbook! I follow your posts on facebook and have used many of your recipes!
Holly Walsh
I’d love to win the cookbook – I’m cooking Christmas dinner for my sister and her husband, both vegans, one gluten-free, along with a table full of meat-eaters… so it’s proving a bit of a challenge to make a gorgeous, filling vegan holiday dinner! We celebrate Thanksgiving, Solstice, Christmas, and New Year’s. I guess we’re equal opportunity 🙂
Thanks for all the great recipes all year long!
Laurie Glass
Thank you, Susan, for all of your delicious recipes. Since beginning a plant-based diet at the beginning of the year, so many of your recipes have graced my table; and my mother’s, too! We would love to win your cookbook to further spread the vegan word!
Skye
I’d love a chance to win the book! I celebrate Christmas and Festivus. 🙂 Last year I made your Thanksgiving Meatless Meatloaf and it quickly became one of my favorite dishes. I can’t wait to try this one!
Katrina
I would love to add this book to my vegan library!
I celebrate Christmas, but usually by volunteering in the community and then going out for Chinese food.
Thanksgiving is a bigger deal, as I also celebrate it but I generally have to do all the vegan cooking for my significant other and I. This year I made a seitan roast (although not this recipe in particular), “cheesey” mashed potatoes, shredded brussels sprouts, maple glazed carrots and a vegan rice pie for dessert.
Regina
I’d live to win this book. For my holiday’s I try & do something different. Thanksgiving I made pumpkin waffles, a tofu omelet, & roasted root vegetables. For Christmas I’m planning a vegan lasagna, veggies, & rum balls.
Ellen Ludwig
This looks so delicious! I tried the Meatless Loaf for Thanksgiving this year and it smelled and tasted great! I will certainly have to give this one a try for Christmas!
tabitha
i would love to be entered, i am a new vegan so this is my first vegan christmas , i am thinking about making a squash cassrole and some cauliflower mash
Kim Yager
I would LOVE to win the book! 🙂 I’m not sure what I’ll be preparing for the holidays yet … LOVE your blog!
Heather Jones
I celebrate Christmas. Most years we have a Tofurkey, but I’d love to make this seitan roast–it looks delicious! Also on my holiday menu are lots of cookies and treats 🙂
Darla Seward-Halpern
I would love a copy of this book! Whats on the Yule menu is a vegan spanokopita, dolmas (displayed as in a ring as a holidy wreath) Middle eastern pilaf and a vegan
tiramisu…oh, and vegan egg nog.
KBeane
This looks amazing!
I would love a copy of Nava’s book, I have been restraining myself from buying it for some time now (I need to be buying Christmas presents for my family, not myself!). We will be in transit from my husband’s family’s place during the big family dinner on my family’s side on Christmas Eve, and will likely be having snack-type food on Christmas day at my Grandmother’s house (which for us vegans probably means veggie burgers!). Maybe this year I will make a big day-after-Christmas dinner for my husband and I!
Crystal Castle
I’d really like a chance to win a copy of your fab book. I’ve been using your recipes for years and simply LOVE how great they are. My husband (a carnivore) really loves them too, they’re so good! I am traveling to New York for the holidays to be with family and think that I will make this Seitan dish as my dish to pass (and it will probably be the only thing I can eat, so it’s good that it looks filling) and I’m sure all my non-veg family will really enjoy it. I celebrate Yule (or the Winter Solstice), but the rest of my family celebrates Christmas.
Ruth Hiller
This looks absolutely delicious. We are traveling for the holidays but I will be sure to take this recipe with me and cook it as my contribution to the holiday dinner!
Krista
I would love that cookbook! I celebrate Christmas and will be making our famous green bean casserole in addition to baked Brussels sprouts 🙂
Robalee Deike
This is my first post to your block. My husband and I (ages 56 and 57) are “newbies” to the world of Vegan living. We were convicted by the Forks Over Knives DVD and made a signigicant step change in our diet (though we have always eaten rather “healthy”, or so we thought) just 2 months ago. Thanks for the ideas and inspiration and TERRIFIC recipes. Some we have tried, many I have printed or tagged for later
Robalee Deike
Meant to say “blog” not block! Oh, well, blogs and all are still quite new to me, too, along with vegan cooking and eating! Just say I am “getting with the times”!
LaDonna
That stuffed seitan looks really yummy! I’d love a chance to win “Vegan Holiday Kitchen.” Right now, nothing’s on my holiday menu because it hasn’t been planned…we celebrate Christmas and New Year’s. Definitely for New Year’s some form of greens, brown rice, and black-eyed peas!
Vail
Hi Susan, I would love a chance to win the holiday book! For thanksgiving this year I made a traditional meal and just ate the sides – normally I don’t do a substitute for the meat dish. But your roll looks so wonderful I think I may have to try it at Christmas (I celebrate the Winter Solstice) with your mushroom gravy while others are having their ‘roast beast.’ (My brain is playing around with a potato and chick pea flour mixture instead of the seitan to make the gluten free roll.) For sure we are starting dinner this year with the Coconut Butternut Squash soup recipe I printed off from the book, and my own Corn and Pepper scramble which is spicy and colorful – the rest is still a mystery! Here’s wishing Happy Holidays to you and yours, and thank you again for your wonderful blog; it’s so fun to share it with friends just getting started 🙂
Vail
PS – I’m with LaDonna above on the New Years menu!
Susan Kelley
I’d love to win the book! So far, the only thing I know I’ll make (for solstice) is a dessert. Probably gingerbread cupcakes.
Ariana F
I would lovelovelove to win a signed copy of the book! For holiday meals I love making your asparagus and chickpea casserole and make a side of vegan mashed potatoes and your no crust pumpkin pie! This Christmas I will definitely be making those plus recipes from the book!
Tess van Dijk
I would love to have a copy of Vegan Holiday Kitchen. I really do appreciate the website with all the wonderful meals that I try everyday. I have almost convinced my husband that this it the way to go. He loves all that I cook and cant wait to have the Seitan for dinner tonight. Thanks so much for all the great recipes.
Jody
I have been drooling over this book since you first mentioned it. I have no clue what I’m going to make for our family holiday meal, which is precisely why I need this fabulous book for inspiration! Thanks so much!